Post your hurricane memories here

[LynneSin]

Even growing up in rural Pennsylvania we had our share of really bad hurricane - most notably Hurricane Agnes (1972). Just when you thought we were safe she turned herself back around and came back onshore right into NYC and somehow managed to work its way back into Pennsylvania where it sat for a few days dumping water on us. The hurricane destroyed the local pond near our home but my father redesigned the pond to keep it floodproofed for in the future (well at least so it would be safe from future storms)

[WildClarySage]

1. Hurricane Hugo, 1989, Charlotte.

Told my parents on the phone "Don't be silly, we're hundreds of miles inland, there's nothing to worry about!" There were about three weeks of showering in a hotel my friend's mom's company had rented on the other side of town every other day. And the bees! They took over the city.

The plus side was getting to really know our neighbors when we'd never had much contact before that. Somehow that disaster really brought out the best in us.

[mike_c]

5. I was in north georgia for Hugo, then drove to Charlotte...

...about a week afterward. It was pretty blasted.

[Dukkha]

38. I was in South Florida during Hugo

We just missed that hurricane. The next year I moved to SF where I just missed the big earthquake.

[fishnfla]

2. First Charley hit us in a blink

everyone caught out in the rain, wham bam thank you ma'am

then Frances 2 weeks later. Sat around waiting for 3 days, then she blew for 36 hours , howling. Bored skulless, I taught our kids to play poker.

Little bastards took me for 22 bucks!

Fucking hurricanes!

[nytemare]

8. You have 5000 posts!!

I was looking to see if you were in Orlando too. Congrats for the 5000.

[fishnfla]

9. ironic, 2000 of them are hurricane related!

seems like anyway.

I'm over here near Daytona.

Thanks for the props! :hi:

[nytemare]

19. No problem!

I know Deltona got a poopload of rain from Charley and Frances, or was it Jeanne that dumped more? I can't remember.

Anyway, congrats.

[mike_c]

3. when I was in grad school, my ex and I, and a couple of friends...

...took a road trip INTO a hurricane that made landfall on the outer banks. That would have been in 1992 or 93, I think-- I don't remember which storm. We were actually chasing the projected landfall up and down the coast, seeking the spot where the storm would be strongest. It was a pretty stupid thing to do. We drove across a causeway just before it flooded, then PLAYED IN THE WIND AND RAIN just above the beach during the storm. The eye veered a bit north and missed us, and by then we were stuck on our little peninsula until the surge went down and unflooded the causeway (not long, really). We could lay into the wind-- with arms outstretched it would support us. It was probably only a cat 3 or 4 storm-- I don't recall-- and we got what amounted to a glancing blow, but it was still unbelievably powerful-- raindrops felt like buckshot-- we had to cover our skin-- and the waves hitting the jetty were HUGE. The noise was incredible-- we had to shout at one another from only a foot or two away.

[Jara sang]

4. Hurricane Gloria

kicked up some killer surf, I went body boarding the next day and it was awesome.

[no_hypocrisy]

17. Oh please, don't bring up Hurricane Gloria to me.

The eye was supposed to hit Southampton on Long Island. My mom called me from there the day it was supposed to hit, saying her car puked (hole in the gas tank). I left work, drove 3 hours to get her, only to be greeted by Mom telling me, great, you're in time for the Hurricane Party! She had no intention of leaving.

I had a fit. Long story short, she changed her mind and came home with me. 4-1/2 hours with 3 storms to get home.

[LynneSin]

27. I feel the same way - bad car accident due to Gloria

Again, I'm in Pennsylvania so it's just the leftovers storming up the coast. I was driving to the dealership to get some work done and I lost control of the car when I started to break - rearended someone

:cry:

[MissMillie]

29. I got hammered and slept through it

I was terribly worried though, that my sister in the Coast Guard was going to be sent out to ride out this one.

[merh]

6. Before tonight and tomorrow

I have experienced Hurricane Betsy, Hurricane Camille, Hurricane Fredericks, Hurricane Elana, Hurricane Andrew, Hurricane George, Hurricane Alicia.

Whatcha want to know

[nytemare]

7. Well, numbers 2, 4, and 6 on this list hit Orlando last year

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pastcost.shtml


I don't have to go back that far to remember these. Charley came through pretty quickly. The projected path had it going north of us, through Tampa, then Ocala. It took a column-half right into Punta Gorda and made a bee line for Orlando. Most here were without power for a week. Gas lines, debris, trees snapped. There was some major roof damage to my building and the ones close by, which was speculated to possibly be a small tornado because it was a swath.

Got a roofing tac in my tire just 2 months ago, so the stuff still seems to be floating around.

Two weeks later came Frances, which dumped a load of rain, but the winds weren't as intense. Then was Jeanne, which just moved like molasses, caused a lot of wind and misty rain.

All in all, we made it through ok, though. In 25 years here, I think Orlando was hit by one hurricane, and a couple of tropical storms. Last year was a nasty one.

[DawgHouse]

13. I'm in Orlando too

Charley was horrible for us. Frances and Jeanne made us quite miserable but Charley tore up our roof and our trees. We hunkered down in the hallway and my dog threw up. :)

Ten years in Florida and those were my first experiences with hurricanes. I found a roofing nail in my tire too but it was not as recent as yours!

[nytemare]

20. Glad your family and doggie made it through ok!

Those nails are killers. I stepped on one, luckily I just felt a little poke in my shoe, and was wearing thick soles!

[DawgHouse]

21. You know,she hasn't been the same since.

She's always been a little skittish of storms but Charley made her worse. But then, it was a real eye-opener for me too.

[nytemare]

22. What side of town are you on?

I know by the airport and south of the University seemed to get clobbered the worst. I went to visit a friend who lived off of Lk Margaret who I have visited 20 times before, and had to turn around twice because the trees were all knocked down. I had no idea where I was.

[DawgHouse]

46. Near Winter Park

on the east side.

[Ilsa]

10. I have a vague recollection of Hurricane Carla when I was one year

old. I remember being in the hallway with my sisters and my mom was afraid there might be a tornado spawning off it. Extremely vague memory, but loud.

[Eugene]

11. Fleeing Camille

My family was vacationing down South when the Hurricane Camille came.
We cut the trip short and raced back to Boston.

I also remember driving home from work during Hurrican Bob.

[jandrok]

12. I was in Houston in '83 for Alicia

I was living in an apartment in Houston with some friends. My most vivid memory was sitting out and watching the clouds spiral in before thw worst of the weather began to hit. It was truly awesome to watch. I also remember the roof coming off of the apartments directly across from us, and watching the tidal surges in the SWIMMING POOL. Yowza.

[Zomby Woof]

14. Gloria, September 1985

Lived in Virginia Beach... this was the one Pat Robertson prayed away, according to him. (Note to DUers: We lived ONE MILE from his mansion at the CBN complex, and I can tell you, there is NOTHING suprising about his assassination comments).

I just started college, and spent time after school boarding up our house. ABC Nightline even came to town and showed the students at my university camped out in the gym.

The weird thing was, power was always quick to go out for the slightest of reasons, but we never lost ours. So even though I had plenty of batteries for my boom box for updates, we stayed tuned in to TV news all night.

Despite Pat's efforts, we were still hit with 90-95 mph winds, and our house had MANY tall trees which could have caused GREAT damage if felled.

Personally, I prefer earthquakes, and I have been through major ones.

[BamaLefty]

15. Hurricane Ivan and Opal

Ugh... I don't want to talk about it. :grr:

[WCGreen]

16. We were in the Bahams when I was about 13...

So that must have been around 1972....

It was one of those three or four day deals....

We were brushed by a huricane, nothing much...

But, Price Charles was there......

[kwassa]

18. Hurricanes AND Earthquakes

we got hit last year by Hurricane Alex on the Outer Banks, a category one that shook the house for 8 hours and tore off screens and shingles. Many cars were drowned in other parts of Hatteras and Ocracoke; cars don't take well to submerging in salt water.

Hurricane Isabel knocked down lots of trees in our neighborhood in Maryland, splitting our neighbors oak tree right down the middle. We were lucky, only had branches down, and nothing hit the house, unlike some others close by.

My biggest natural disaster was the Northridge quake in LA in '94 that threw me out of bed and knocked down my local freeway, closing I-10 for about six weeks in that area. Friends of mine had their homes destroyed enough that the houses were condemned. Lots of smaller quakes too, through the years, and brushfires.

[ZombieNixon]

23. I was living in MD when Fran pounded North Carolina in 1996 (I think)

I remember being amused because my friend's mother was named Fran. A tornado nearly hit my elementary school that day. That's about as close to a hurricane as I've come, which is good, b/c the thought of one of those things scares the hell out of me.

[maveric]

24. Hurricane Donna, 1960. I was four.

We lived in the upstairs unit of my grandparents house. The whole family went downstairs to my GP's place and rode it out. We lost power for hours. I can remember my brother, age two, crying during the whole storm. Scared the hell out of me.

[Lindsey]

26. Hurricane Cecila, 1970...

August 3, I was 12 years old. The winds were unbelievable along with the flooding and tornados. My sister and I actually saw a tornado pick up the garage across the street and turn it over on its roof. Also tornados ripped off the faces of apt. coplexes and you could actually see peoples furniture, belongings, etc. just sittin' there. It was one of the weirdest experiences I've ever had. We were w/o electricity for 3 weeks - In Corpus Christi, TX in August! Wow - my heart really goes out to our friends in New Orleans - my prayers are with them all.

[fudge stripe cookays]

33. My grandma...

saved an old newspaper circular from 1970 that showed all the damage from Cecilia. It was a bad un!

She lived down in Weslaco, so saw a LOT of hurricanes!
FSC

[Redstone]

25. I was in a hospital in Sant Monica, California, in pretty much

of a body cast, wondering how my family in Pennsylvania was making out during Aggie, not to mention wondering if they'd bought my lame lie of an explanation of having been in a car accident...they all made out OK, and never found out that I wasn't telling them the truth.

Redstone

[kick-ass-bob]

28. Hurricane Fran, one of the few to actually be a hurricane on us

all the way up in Raleigh.

The already soaked land was soaked some more and the 70 mph winds blew down tens of thousands of trees (mostly uprooted). One road that goes along a local lake had pine trees downed the entire length of the road (we lived right off that road).

Our apt complex had probably 4-500 trees come down, including 3 on top of our building. We had no power for 10 days. I had moved our cars the night before, and the spot where they were before now had a massive branch sitting in it. No cars were there anymore, they all took my hint and moved theirs as well.

One apartment complex near Crabtree Creek (where we later moved to) had flood water up above the light switches on the first story (about 20 feet above normal water levels.)

I had actually gone out in the eye (yes, it was still formed) and boy, was it eerie. I head the winds picking back up and I ran back inside.

[Midlodemocrat]

42. I remember Fran. I had a newborn when that one hit.

and two years ago, Isabel knocked the shit out of my neighborhood. Almost everyone I knew had a tree on either their house or their car. Then there was a tornado that came within feet of my neighborhood, down Genito Road. It was pretty awful.

My dad was in a nursing home over on Robious Road when Isabel hit. We only lost power for two hours, but we had a generator, so we weren't that worried. The nursing home was without power for four days, so yours truly was going from grocery store to grocery store to pick up ice for them. The water had been contaminated, so we couldn't drink from the tap.

It sucked.

[kick-ass-bob]

43. My son was about 10 months old at that time.

He slept through the whole thing - I, however, slept for an hour at a time.

[underpants]

30. Filet mignon cooked on a brick and alum.foil homemade grill

Hurricane Isabelle-we didn't have a grill and all the steaks had been bought at the grocery store so we made do with what we could.

[kick-ass-bob]

31. I heated some Dinty Moore Beef Stew on a grill.

That didn't work so well.
x(

[underpants]

36. A buddy of mine stayed with us

we drank lots of beer and listened to the radio when the power went out (8 hours) we missed most of the coverage on MSM. His childhood home was completely wiped out (on creek feeding into the Bay/River/Ocean area) but we had a good time during the hurricane. We lived in an apartment in the middle of the city at the time, no real damage to be seen but we walked a few blocks over to Monument ave. and the huge century old trees were all knocked over (no tap root). Later we saw what happened-amazing.

The house we live in now had 9 trees go down on the property-several onto the house.

[bleedingheart]

41. Ivan

flooded my basement a bit...but was manageable..

However I was almost trapped at work because major roads here in Pittsburgh were flooded. I got home and luckily so did my husband....

One of hubby's coworkers had his foundation shift on his house it was awful.

That christmas we donated money to help buy someone a furnace to replace what had been lost.

[clyrc]

32. In 1999 Floyd was supposed to come right over us

We boarded up the house, got supplies, and waited. It took another course, and since my husband had a few days off and Disneyworld was close, we took the girls. Disney was not crowded and we had a great time.

Actually what was worse was the remnants of a tropical storm that hit the week of Sept. 11, 2001. It had been an unbelievably bad week anyway, with the 11th and a friend having a miscarriage, and hitting a deer with the car, and then on Friday we had heavy wind and rain and that night we were huddled in the hallway with pillows over our heads because of tornado warnings. I had to drive in the rain that day because my oldest had an ear infection that was making her miserable... I hope I never have to go through anything like that week again.

[Patiod]

34. One of the benefits of living in E. Pennsylvania

Not much in the way of disasters, except a small tornado touching down in my front yard 12 years ago.

I went with my dad to visit a customer of his in Wilkes-Barre after Agnes, and remember her pointing a line on the wallpaper, showing us how high the water came. It's really rare that E. PA is affected -- it's usually flooding, which can happen with or without hurricanes.

[fudge stripe cookays]

35. 1980 - Hurricane Allen

We were living in Austin, but I remember my mom's brother, his soon-to-be- 2nd wife, and her two kids came up and slept at our place for at least a week.

My brother had a huge pit group sofa in the living room, and we lay around for day swatching hurricane coverage, and trying to decide when it was safe for them to go back home. It hit South Texas pretty hard, as I recall. They were living in Corpus at the time.

I was 14.

FSC

[fudge stripe cookays]

37. Camille---

I can remember when we moved from Virginia to Texas when I was 4, being completely fascinated by the remnants of Camille, since we had to drive through the Deep South.

Some of these buildings...it looked like a claw had come up out of the ocean, grabbed half the house and taken it back out to sea, and the other half still stood there. It made quite an impression!

"MOMMY!! WHAT"S THAT??!!"

FSC

[Catchawave]

39. Floyd

Was in NYC the day it hit the city. Remember Guiliani on local TV all the time in his little FEMA jacket and telling people to take their flower pots off their balconies and literally shutting down the city telling people to go home. We walked 5 blocks to see "Rent" that night, got soaked, but not an empty seat in the theater!

[bleedingheart]

40. Agnes flooded my grandmothers home...was declared a disaster area

that was bad.

[2bfree]

44. Celia in 1970.

I was 6 years old and living in Portland TX, the eye of the storm went right over us. Our house made it thought with little damage but many of the homes on our street were demolished.

[Trigger Hippie]

45. Hurricane Lili 2003

Lafayette, LA

It hit the day after my birthday and my friends and I made it a two-day party. In hindsight, I wish I had left town, because it was a bit scary.

I did sleep through Hurricane Andrew in 1992 when I was in high school. I'm a sound sleeper. :)